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LITTLE CHILDREN; 



OR THE 



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OF 



LITTLE SARAH 






WRITTEN FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL 

SOCIETY; AND REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE 

OF PUBLICATION. 




BOSTO.N: IF}/ 

MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY 
Depository, No. 24, Cornhill. 

IS 33* 






^"JvSs 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
1833, by Christopher C. Dean, in the Clerk's Office 
of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



/J 7 1 






PREFACE 



The Sabbath school has been called, and just- 
ly, the " nursery of the church." But there is 
another nursery, more important than this, and, in 
the estimation of the writer, possessed of vastly 
greater efficacy in the work of conversion. It is 
the family relationship. 

Why has God instituted such a relationship ? 
Why has he adopted an arrangement, that neces- 
sarily brings into being ten thousand ties of affec- 
tion, which instinctively bind father and mother to 
son and daughter, and at the same time gives 
them such unbounded sway over their young 
minds? Why adopted an arrangement which 
throws a magic influence into the mere words, 
father— mother ? God never did this for nothing. 
Nor did he do it, that the wonderful efficacy of 
this arrangement in swaying the mind should 
reach no farther than to the things of time and 
sense. God aimed at something nobler and more 
1* 



VI PREFACE, 

important. He adopted this arrangement, beyond 
a doubt, with main and special reference to the 
salvation of the soul. Those ten thousand ties of 
affection, that bind the parent to the child, are 
only so many channels of influence through which 
the parent is to reach the heart of his child, and 
sway it on that most important of all subjects— re- 
ligion. And God opens these channels to the pa- 
rent for this very purpose. This is the grand object 
aimed at in the adoption of the family arrangement. 
All other objects are subordinate. The family ar- 
rangement is, therefore, mainly an arrangement of 
instrumentality for the conversion of its mem- 
bers. And God, doubtless, holds parents respon- 
sible, in a far higher sense than they are wont to 
suppose, for the proper application of this ar- 
rangement to their children. Under God, it is for 
them to decide, and every parent does in action 
decide whether the family arrangement shall be 
the means of his children's conversion or not. 

This matter is far from being fully understood 
or felt by Christian parents. The time is coming 
when it will be otherwise, and when the family ar- 
rangement, by fheans of its instruction, discipline, 
government and influence, will become, next to 



PREFACE. Vll 

the preaching of the gospel, the grand instrument 
of conversion. This, however, will not be, until 
two things are secured ; 1. the full and practical 
conviction on the part of parents that their little 
children may, by the use of a proper instrumen- 
tality, be converted ; and 2. the same conviction 
secured on the minds of their little children. 

Parent and child must both believe that conver- 
sion may take place, or neither will ever lift a fin- 
ger or offer up one believing prayer for it. It is 
mere mockery for a parent to pray that God 
would convert his child, so long as he thinks his 
child is too young to become a Christian. 

Now one of the ways in which the above con- 
viction is to be secured in the mind of the parent 
and the child, is to publish facts — to lay before 
them history after history of the actual conversion 
of little children. In this way the prevailing 
skepticism in regard to the matter will be gradu- 
ally done away ; Christian parents be aroused to 
their duty ; praise be perfected out of the mouth 
of babes and sucklings, and the wonderful effi- 
cacy of the family arrangement be seen in the ac- 
tual conversion of vast multitudes of children. 

That the following history may exert some lit- 



Vlll PREFACE. 

tie influence to this effect, and, at the same time, 
serve as a useful and precious memento to those 
who knew little Sarah — especially to her parents, 
is the sincere desire and prayer of the writer. 

It may be well to add that little Sarah lived in 
H , Mass- and died Sept. 3d, 1832. 



LETTERS 

TO 

LITTLE CHILDREN; 

OR THE HISTORY 

OP 



LETTER I. 



SARAH NOT TOO YOUNG TO DIE. 

Dear little Children, 

Many of you I never saw, and probably 
never shall in this world, though I hope 
I shall in that better world, to which 
all good people and good children go, 
when they die. And so, because I 
never expect to see you and talk to 
you face to face, I thought I would 
write to you, and tell you about a sweet 
little girl that used to go to the Sabbath 
school, but who died a few months 
ago, and, as I hope, has gone home to 
heaven. 



10 HISTORY OF 

This little girl's name was Sarah, 
and I was once her minister, She 
used to love me very much, and when 
I called to see her father and mother, 
as I used to do sometimes, she always 
seemed glad to see me ; and as she 
came up to me to shake hands with 
me, that bright and sparkling eye of 
hers, and that sweet smile, told me 
how much she loved, and how glad she 
was to see, her dear minister. 

Well, little Sarah was about nine 
years old ; and, like other little chil- 
dren who love their minister, she used 
to love to go to the Sabbath school. I 
do not know that she ever teased her 
mother to let her stay at home, as some 
children do. So far from this, I believe 
she used to feel very bad when any 
thing happened so that she could not 
go. Indeed, somebody told me once, 
that a wicked man, who knew how 
little Sarah loved to go to the Sabbath 



LITTLE SARAH. 11 

school, tried to hire her to stay away. 
They said he offered her, I think it 
was twenty-five or fifty cents, if she 
would only stay away. But she would 
not do it ; and when she came to die, 
no doubt she was very glad she did not 
stay away, as that wicked man wanted 
her to. And her dear father and mother 
too, when they looked on and saw how 
sweetly and happily she died, no doubt 
they too were very glad to think that 
she did not. Little Sarah and her dear 
parents, I think, were never sorry, and 
never will be sorry, that she went to 
the Sabbath school. 

When in the school, she never used 
to be looking about the room, nor turn- 
ing over the leaves of her book, nor 
playing with her bonnet strings or her 
clothes, nor fixing her hair, nor whis- 
pering or playing with the little girl 
that sat next to her. O no, she never 
did so ; but when her teacher used to 



12 HISTORY OF 

talk to her, and to the other little girls 
in her class, about their souls, and about 
God, and heaven, and hell, and that 
dear Saviour that died for them so that 
their sins might all be forgiven, if they 
would only love him, and be so sorry 
for their sins as not to do so again — I 
say, when her dear teacher used to 
talk to her, and the little girls in her 
class, about these things, she always 
used to listen to what was said. She 
did not move about in her seat, as if 
she disliked what was said, and wanted 
to have the school stop, so that she 
might get away, but she used to sit 
still, and look at her teacher, and hear 
all that she said ; and, sometimes, when 
her dear teacher told her about the 
Saviour, a tear stood in little Sarah's 
eye, and it seemed as if she loved him. 
But, dear children, although little 
Sarah was so sweet and so young a 
child, she was not too sweet, nor too 



LITTLE SARAH. 13 

young to die. I had been away from 
the place where Sarah lived for some 
months ; and when I went away, I left 
little Sarah alive and well, and, for any 
thing I knew, as likely to live as any 
little child — but when I went back 
there to stay a few weeks, as I went 
to meeting on the Sabbath, to hear the 
minister preach, (for I had been dis- 
missed, and was no longer Sarah's 
minister,) what do you think I heard ? 
I will tell you. When the minister 
rose to pray, he had a little paper in 
his hands, and he read it, and it told 
the people that little Sarah was very 
sick, and that her parents were afraid 
she would die, and, therefore, they 
wanted the people to pray for her, so 
that she might live if God saw fit. 
And so the people did pray for her. 
The next day but one, although I was 
no longer Sarah's minister, I went to 

her father's house to see her. I found 

2 



14 HISTORY OF 

her asleep. So I went into another 
room, and there her parents told me 
something about her sickness. She 
was very sick. Her disease was in 
her head, and sometimes, as the pains 
darted through her head, she would all 
at once put her hand up to it as if in 
great distress, but she never complained. 
When she awoke, which she did soon, 
I went into the room where she was. 
As I went up to the bed on which she 
lay, I said to her, as near as I can 
recollect, " Well, Sarah, how do you 
do ? I am sorry to find you sick ; you 
are very sick, are you not ?" " O yes," 
said she. " Sarah," said I, as I bent 
over her so that she could see me more 
distinctly, "'do you know me ?" " O 
yes, I do" and, lifting up her little 
hand, and putting it on my forehead, 
she immediately added, " How glad I 
am to see you!" I then said to her, 
among other things, " Sarah, do you 



LITTLE SARAH. 15 

think you love the Saviour ?" " Yes, 
Sir, I think I do." 

As I was standing by her, I saw 
she kept putting her hand up to her 
head on account of the pains that 
darted through it. Said I, " Sarah, 
you have a great deal of pain ?" " O 
yes." " Well, when you are lying 
here and have so much pain, does it 
not make you feel happy to think of 
your dear Saviour ?" " O yes it does" 
she said ; and then added with great 
feeling, " CanH I go and be ivith 
him ?" 

After she had said a few more things, 
which I cannot now remember, her 
uncle asked her if she would not like 
to have me pray with her. " O yes," 
said she, " I should — do make haste." 
I told her to wait a moment, till the 
other people in the house were called 
in. When they had all come in, I said, 
" We will pray now." " O do," said 



16 HISTORY OF 

she. So I closed my eyes and began, 
but she broke in upon me at once, and 
said, " Give me your hand," I gave it 
to her, and she took it in her's, and 
held it till I had done ; and when I had 
done, " O," said she, " that was a good 
prayer" — meaning, I suppose, that it 
made her feel very happy. After 
prayer, I bid her good bye, and told 
her I hoped I should see her in heaven, 
if I did not see her any more in this 
world. It was a very affecting scene, 
I assure you. When we saw how 
much pain she was in, and then heard 
her talk, it made us all weep. After 
this, I said a few words to her dear 
parents, and went away. 

I was gone out of town for a few 
days, and when I came back little Sa- 
rah was dead, and they had sent for 
me to attend her funeral. 

I went. The house was full of peo- 
ple — old and young, and little children. 



LITTLE SARAH. 17 

Many little children were there, just 
about as old as Sarah, who used to go 
to the Sabbath school with her. They 
were alive, but little Sarah was dead, 
and laid in the narrow coffin, and they 
had come to see her for the last time, 
and to see the people carry her away, 
and lay her in the cold grave. 

They had come too, to hear what 
the minister that Sarah, and many 
of them, loved so much, had to say to 
them. So I spoke to them, and to the 
older people too, and told them how 
Sarah died, and that if they would die 
as Sarah died, they must live as Sarah 
lived, and love the same Saviour that 
Sarah loved. And when I told them 
how she died, there were many fathers 
there, and many mothers, and many 
children too, who wept. After prayer, 
the people carried her cold body to the 
grave, and there, I suppose, it will lie, 
till you and I, and all the people now 
2* 



18 HISTORY OF 

in the world, are dead and laid in the 
grave too. And it will probably lie 
there longer than that — even till the 
last trumpet sounds. Then, as you 
know, all that are in their graves will 
come forth, and among the rest, little 
Sarah, and you, and I, and all those 
little children that were at Sarah's fu- 
neral, and all the grown people that 
were there too. 

We shall all come up out of our 

graves, and then we shall all go to 

stand before that Saviour that Sarah 

loved ; and, if we love him too, then 

he will take us all to himself, to be 

with him, and live with him, and be 

happy in loving and serving him forever 

and ever. But if you, and those little 

children, and those grown people too, 

that were at Sarah's funeral, have not 

lived as Sarah lived, nor loved the 

Saviour that Sarah loved, then you and 

Sarah must be separated forever, and 



LITTLE SARAH. 19 

those little children, and those grown 
people, that looked on her as she lay 
there in her little coffin, will never look 
on her any more, but while she rises 
to that bright world where her Saviour 
lives, and where she will ever live and 
see his glories, and be made happy by 
his smiles, they and you must sink to 
that dark world, where no Saviour can 
ever come to smile upon and bless you. 
And now, dear children, will you re- 
member this ? and will you think of it, 
and think every day, that if you would 
die as Sarah died, you must love the 
Saviour that she loved ? — and will you 
remember too, that, just like little Sa- 
rah, you are not too small or too young 
to die ? 



20 HISTORY OF 



LETTER II. 

SARAH IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 

Dear Little Children^ 

I am now going to tell you something 
more about little Sarah in the Sabbath 
School, I remember very well, that 
little children in the Sabbath School 
like to hear what the other teachers 
say to the other children. Sometimes, 
I believe they ask each other what their 
teachers said to them. Well, Sarah's 
teacher wrote me a letter, and told me 
what she used to say to her, and what 
Sarah used to say in reply. And now 
if you will try to remember it I will 
tell you. 

Sarah's teacher says, " I can safely 



LITTLE SARAH. 21 

say that, when little Sarah was a mem- 
ber of my class, there was a marked 
difference in her appearance, from the 
rest of the class. She was always ve- 
ry attentive while the class were saying 
their lessons ; and when I conversed 
with them about the Saviour Jesus 
Christ, she would always listen with 
deep interest to hear all I said ; and she 
seemed to realize and feel it. At one 
time, I told her she must pray to God, 
and ask him to give her a new heart. 
1 I do pray to God,' she immediately 
replied, ' and I do think God has given 
me a new heart.' But why, said I, do 
you think God has given you a new 
heart? 'Because I love to think of 
him,' was her answer. Well, do you 
think, Sarah, said I, that you should be 
willing to die, if you could go and be 
with the Saviour? She readily an- 
swered ' Yes.' I repeated the question, 



22 HISTORY OF 

but varied it a little so as to have her 
see what I meant — should you be wil- 
ling to leave your dear father and moth- 
er, to go and be with the Saviour ? To 
which she replied as before, ' Yes ; 5 but 
as she did it, it cost her a struggle in 
order to keep from shedding tears." 

You see from this, dear children, that 
little Sarah loved her parents very 
much. Indeed, if she had not loved 
them very much, she would not have 
been a good girl. That little boy and 
that little girl, who do not love their 
father and mother, never need to think, 
that they are good children. But little 
Sarah loved her Saviour more than she 
did her parents — much as she loved 
them — and so when her teacher asked, 
which she had rather do, stay in this 
world and live with them, or go and 
live with her dear Saviour, she was 
ready to say at once, she had rather go 



LITTLE SARAH. 23 

and be with him, although the thought 
of leaving her parents almost made her 
weep. She doubtless remembered the 
w 7 ords of her Saviour, how he said, 
" He that loveth father or mother more 
than me is not worthy of me." 

But to return — little Sarah's teacher 
says, " she often seemed to be affected, 
when I talked with her about the Sa- 
viour, and urged her to repent of all 
her sins. She would say, in reply, she 
thought she was sorry for them — she 
did pray to God — she hoped God had 
or would give her a new heart r and she 
thought she did love him. This con- 
versation, and much more to the same 
effect, I recollect perfectly. 

" After this," says her teacher, " I talk- 
ed with her mother about what she had 
said to me. She said she had not seen 
any particular change in her, but that 
she was a very good girl — that she al- 



24 HISTORY OF 

ways loved to go to the Sabbath school, 
and when she went home would fre- 
quently tell what had been said to her 
at the school. 

" I thought at the time," continues 
her teacher, " that little Sarah had 
yielded up her heart to that Saviour, 
who alone is worthy. I think so still ; 
and though aware, that I am poorly 
qualified to judge, still I hope and trust 
that she is now dwelling in the pre- 
sence of that Saviour, and lifting up her 
voice in the grateful ascription of praise, 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" 

This, then, dear children, was little 
Sarah in the Sabbath school. Are you 
like her ? Do you love to go to the 
Sabbath school ? Do you listen to all 
your teacher says ? Do you think you 
have a heart to love God ? Do you 
love to think of God ? Do you love to 
pray to him ? Do you love the Sa- 



LITTLE SARAH. 25 

viour more than you love your father 
or mother ? Do you set more by him 
than you do by any of your playthings 
— or books — or clothes, or any thing in 
the world ? If you do not, then you 
are not like little Sarah. Besides, what 
if I should come and talk with your 
mother about you, would she tell me 
you are a very good child, and love to 
go to the Sabbath school, and often tell 
her what your teacher says to you ? 
This is what little Sarah's mother says 
she did. And what if, like little Sa- 
rah, you should be taken sick and die ? 
Do you think, your dear teacher could 
say she hoped you had yielded your 
heart up to the Saviour, and that you 
were now standing in the presence of 
that Saviour, . clad in white and lifting 
up your little voice, with the ten thou- 
sand, and thousands of thousands, round 

about the throne, saying with a loud 
3 



26 HISTORY OF 

voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain ? Say, dear little children, could 
your teacher say this of you, if you 
were dead and laid in the grave as lit- 
tle Sarah is ? O, that is a blessed 
world to which all good children and 
good people go, when they die. 

There is the Saviour — that same Sa- 
viour that came down to this world to 
save us. And he is not lying in a man- 
ger — or out in the fields, or on the 
mountains. Nor are there any wicked 
men there to buffet him, and spit on 
him, and nail him to the cross. But 
there he sits upon a throne, and angels 
and good men are all round about him, 
loving, and praising, and adoring him. 
There too are all good little children, 
such as Dickerman, and Mead, and lit- 
tle Sarah, and they too are lifting up 
their voices and their hearts in adora- 
tion and praise. 



LITTLE SARAH. 27 



LETTER III. 

SARAH DURING HER SICKNESS. 

Dear Children, 

I will now tell you something more 
about little Sarah. I have already told 
you how she loved to go to the Sab- 
bath school. I will say a word or two 
more about this. She began to go to 
the Sabbath school when she was only 
four years old. When she first began 
to go, the superintendent offered to give 
a Testament to every one in the school, 
who could read it correctly. Little 
Sarah could. So the superintendent 
gave her a Testament, and she always 
set a great deal by it. She left it be- 
hind her when she died, and it is now 



28 HISTORY OF 

laid up along with the other books of 
her little library. 

There were two Sabbath schools in 
the place where Sarah lived — one at 
the meeting-house, and the other, 
which was held after meeting in the 
afternoon, at the school-house near to 
the house in which Sarah lived. She 
used to attend them both. A few weeks 
before she was taken sick, the superin- 
tendent of the school near her house, 
says that she was more attentive to 
what he said to the scholars than usual. 
When he told them some interesting 
things about pious children, she was 
very much affected, so that the tears 
stood in her eyes. 

There was a large room in her fath- 
er's house which they called the hall. 
Sarah used to keep her playthings and 
her books there ; and was very fond in- 
deed of going away alone into it. Her 
mother used to think it was only to 



LITTLE SARAH. 29 

amuse herself with her things and her 
books ; but since she died, she thinks 
that she probably spent a part of the 
time in prayer. For, a short time be- 
fore she was taken sick, when one of 
her little mates called to see her, and 
they were in the hall together, she told 
her little playmate, that she tried to be 
good very often — that sometimes she 
thought she was, or should be — but 
that afterwards she would forget it 
again, and that she prayed often. 

But, dear children, as I told you be- 
fore, little Sarah was not too young or 
too good to die. Indeed the day after 
she died, a lady said, that Sarah appear- 
ed so different and so much more for- 
ward than other children, that she had 
never thought she would live long, and 
that she had before told her mother not 
to love her too much, because she 
thought that Sarah " was not long for 
this world.' 5 And so it proved. As I have 



30 HISTORY OF 

before told you, she sickened and 
died. 

The first conversation after she was 
taken sick, which her mother remem- 
bers, was on the Sabbath. Sarah said, 
" Oh dear ! mother, don't you pity me ?" 
"Yes," said she, "you wish to getwell, 
I suppose. 5 ' "I don't know," replied 
Sarah, "if I were well, I should want 
to be sick, that I might go and live 
with God." " But," said her mother, 
" do you love God ?" " Yes," said 
she : " and I have seen God a great 
many times ;"* and then added, " Moth- 
er, don't you wish that you could see 
him ?" 

The next Tuesday, she was thought 
to be better, and on Thursday, one of 
the ladies that took care of her, said to 
her, " we think you are much better, 
Sarah ; can you not thank God that he 

* See page 42. 



LITTLE SARAH. 31 

has made you more comfortable ?" 
" Yes," she replied. " Well, Sarah, 
do you love God ?" " Oh yes." After 
a few moments' pause, she said very 
thoughtfully — " Is it not God that 
makes us sick ?" 

She said nothing more about dyings for 
a day or two, but was very thankful for 
every thing that was done for her. The 
people could scarcely turn her over in 
the bed, or give her any thing to take, 
but she would thank them for it. The 
next Sabbath night, she said to her 
aunt, " I thank every body for every 
thing they do for me, though I do not 
always tell them." She was also very 
much afraid of making unnecessary 
trouble. When her mother happened 
to be out of the room, she would often 
inquire after her. If told that she was 
at tea, or had lain down, and then asked 
if she wished her to come in, " O no," 



32 HISTORY OF 

she generally replied, " not if she is 
tired." 

Her disease at this time was becom- 
ing more and more alarming* During 
Sabbath night she was seized with 
spasmodic fits. She lay in one of these 
for some time, and every one thought 
that she was dying. In the morning 
however, she revived again. She then 
called all the family to her, one by one, 
and kissed them. She then kissed her 
little infant brother, about five weeks 
old, as they held him to her. This was 
so affecting, that they all began to weep. 
When little Sarah saw it, she said, 
" Mother, what are you crying for ? — 
don't cry — don't cry ;" and then seeing 
her father weeping too, she added with 
great earnestness — " DonH weep for 
me" 

" During a part of the forenoon, she 
lay in such a stupor that she could not 
be made to understand what was said 



LITTLE SARAH. 33 

to her. After she became rational 
again, her father and cousin being alone 
with her, she said, " Father, how good 
you are to me. What a good father 
you are noiv. I wish you would pray." 
" Do you wish some one to pray with 
you ?" said her father. " Oh yes, father, 
I wish you would pray for me." " I 
do," said he. In a few moments she 
said again — " Do just pray for me this 
once, do let me hear you, father !" Her 
cousin now left the room, thinking that 
her presence might be some restraint, 
as Sarah's father was not in the habit 
of praying before others. Whether her 
father prayed with her then, or not, I 
do not know. Sarah however prayed, 
and her father says that she made an 
excellent prayer. About this time she 
told her father that when she got well, 
she, and her brother, and father, and 
mother, would go to meeting. At 



34 HISTORY OF 

another time, she said that it was a 
good thing to go to meeting. 

The next day I went to see her. 
What she said when I was there, I have 
already told you in my first letter, and 
therefore will not repeat it here. After 
this, until her death, she appeared and 
conversed much as she did when I saw 
her. She frequently used to break out 
in such expressions as these, especially 
after she had had some sharp pains, — 
" a great God," — " a great and holy 
God," — " merciful Father." 

Such was little Sarah, dear children, 
during her sickness. I have some other 
things which she said, to tell you of, 
but I must keep them for the next let- 
ter. In the mean time, let me ask ev- 
ery one of you, if you think you should 
be like little Sarah, if you were sick 
like her ? When she was well, she 
loved to pray. And when she was sick, 
she still loved to do so. She wished 



LITTLE SARAH. 35 

other people to pray — she wanted to go 
and live with God — she thanked every 
one for every thing they did for her — ■ 
when her father and mother were cry- 
ing to think that she was going to die-, 
she told them not to cry for her, and 
when the pains darted through her, and 
she was in great distress, she never 
complained, but would exclaim — a great 
and holy God — merciful Father, and such 
like, as if she felt that it was all right. 
Now, dear children, do you think that 
you should feel so, if you were lying 
on a sick bed, just going to die, and 
your father and mother, and brothers 
and sisters, stood around you weeping, 
and you were full of sharp, darting 
pains ? What think you ? Think you 
should feel so ? No, dear children, you 
would not, unless you become while 
you are well what little Sarah was 
when she was well. 



36 HISTOKY OF 



LETTER IV. 

SARAH FOND OF PRAYER, 

Dear children, 

I suppose you are all anxious to hear 
something more about little Sarah. I 
should feel very bad if I thought you 
were not. Indeed, if I thought so, I 
do not know but I should stop writing 
to you about her. 

Well, little Sarah, as I have told you, 
was taken very sick. During her sick- 
ness she said a great many interesting 
things. I have already told you some 
of them. I will now tell you more. 
There was one thing, which I think ev- 
ery little child, and all grown people 
too, ought to remember. It was this. 
Little Sarah was always very fond of 
prayer. 









LITTLE SARAH. 31 

Now there are a great many grown 
people, and a great many children too, 
who do not like to pray to the great 
God themselves, and who do not like 
to hear other persons pray. Many 
children had much rather not pray than 
pray. They set much more by their 
plays than they do by praying to God. 
They had rather be among those people 
that talk and laugh, and tell foolish and 
sometimes wicked stories, than with 
those that pray. And I suppose if they 
always did just as they wanted to, 
themselves, they would hardly ever 
think of making a prayer to the great 
God. 

To be sure these children do not 
think it is so with them ; and if I should 
come to them and say it was, they 
would think I was saying very hard 
things about them. But it is so. Why, 
how many little children there are, who 

cannot live a day without having some 

4 



38 HISTORY OF 

of their plays, and they enjoy them- 
selves very much when they have them, 
and yet those same children can live a 
whole week, and some of them a whole 
year, without so much as once going 
away by themselves all alone, to pray 
to the great God. Nay, some of them 
would think it a very hard thing in- 
deed, if their parents should make them 
go away alone to pray once every day* 
Oh, how unwilling some of them would 
be to do it ! Now do you think, dear 
children, they could live a whole week 
or year without praying to God, if they 
liked to pray as much as they like their 
plays? No, they could not. They 
had much rather not pray than pray* 
Oh ! how many children there are, 
(and grown people too,) that would do 
almost any thing sooner than make a 
prayer to the great and holy God I 

But it was not so with little Sarah. 
She loved to pray herself ; and she lov~ 



LITTLE SARAH. 39 

ed to hear other people pray too. As 
I told you in the last chapter, she used 
to pray often, before she was sick, I 
suppose that was what she sometimes 
went away alone into the hall for. I 
think very likely, that that hall, where 
Sarah kept her books and her playthings, 
was Sarah 1 s praying room ; and doubt- 
less the great God, who sees every 
body every where, and hears every 
thing they say, has more than once 
looked down into that room and seen 
little Sarah there upon her knees, and 
opened his ear, and heard all that she 
said in her prayers. Yes, when nobody 
else knew any thing about it, the great 
God knew. 'He saw her. He heard 
all she said. 

And I think it very likely that 
little Sarah used to feel, when sh£ 
was praying there all alone, that the 
great God was there with her, and did 
see her and hear her. She loved Him 



40 HISTORY OF 

so, and it made her so happy to pray to 
him, that very likely she felt as if he 
was there in the room with her, and 
was near to her and was all around her. 
And this I suppose is what she meant, 
when she told her mother that she had 
" seen God a great many times" No 
doubt she referred to some of those 
seasons of prayer, when God seemed 
so near to her, and she felt as if she 
was speaking to him face to face. 

Little Sarah also loved to pray, after 
she was sick, as well as before ; and 
when she was in so much pain, or was 
so weak as not to be able to pray her- 
self, if some friend was in the room, 
she was very fond of having that friend 
pray with her and for her, and she used 
to ask them to do so often ; as you will 
see from what I am now going to tell 
you. And then she used to enjoy the 
prayers very much. 

Once during her sickness, when her 



LITTLE SARAH. 41 

uncle watched with her, she awoke in 
the night and conversed as pleasantly 
and rationally as any well person, for 
fifteen or twenty minutes, and asked 
him to pray with her. 

At another time, when she had been 
in a great deal of pain, and very rest- 
less during the day, the people went 
out of the room and left her and one 
female friend alone, so that she might 
be quiet and get some rest in sleep. 
This friend, supposing that Sarah would 
fall asleep sooner, if she had nothing to 
attract her attention, leaned her head 
down upon the bed by Sarah's side, and 
closed her eyes. Sarah noticed it at 
once, and said "are you at prayer ?" 
" Not now," replied her friend. Sarah 
then said, she wished she would pray. 
Her friend began with " Our Father, 
who art in heaven"— " Oh # said Sa- 
rah, interrupting her, " I can say that" 
—meaning, doubtless, that she could 
*4 



42 HISTORY OF 

use those words herself, and therefore 
wished something to be said, more ap- 
plicable to her case. She then appear- 
ed to join in the devotion, and soon fell 
asleep. 

At another time, after she had been 
in great pain, she said to her mother, 
" do turn me over, and talk religious to 
me." She repeatedly asked her mother 
as well as others to pray with her. 

But, dear children, little Sarah loved 
to pray herself, as well as to hear others. 
One evening she put her little hands 
together, as she lay on the bed, and, in 
a very slow and solemn tone, began to 
repeat a verse which she had learned 
at the infant Sabbath school, and seem- 
ed to turn it into a prayer. What the 
c was, I do not know, as her mother 

* ^v^ftiber it. 
cannot £6IUn. 

I must -close d& letter ' dear children* 
here In my neXt, I will tell you 
something more *out little Sarah. In 



LITTLE SARAH. 43 

the mean time, I think you will all 
see from what I have now told you, 
that little Sarah, who died so sweetly, 
was always very fond of prayer. But 
is it so with all of you ? All you chil- 
dren, that read this letter, and see how 
little Sarah loved to pray herself, and 
how she loved to have other people 
pray for her and with her, are you as 
fond of prayer as she was ? God knows 
it, if you are. And dear children, — 

" God is so good that he will hear 
Whenever children humbly pray, 
He always lends a gracious ear 

To what the youngest child can say." 

Remember, then, this one thing, if 
nothing more, little Sarah was al- 
ways VERY FOND OF PRAYER. 



44 HISTORY OF 



LETTER V. 

SARAH NOT AFRAID TO DIE. 

Dear Children, 

I have said that little Sarah was fond 
of prayer. Perhaps you wonder why 
it was, that she was so fond of it. You 
will see why it was, if you attend to 
what I am now going to tell you. 

Little Sarah, it seems, was much 
afraid of sinning, especially during her 
sickness. One day, as she lay on the 
bed in her sick room, she seemed to be 
talking to herself; but the people in 
the room heard what she said. And 
what do you think it was ? She said 
ishe was afraid she should tell a lie ; 
and then, without any body's speaking 
to her, she spoke out very loud, and 



LITTLE SARAH. 46 

with great earnestness, ".Please, God, 
donH let me tell a lie" This, then, 
was one reason why she liked to pray 
— she wished God to keep her from 
sinning. 

But to proceed with the story of Sa- 
rah's sickness — on Friday night, Sarah 
had another very ill turn. The people 
that watched with her, thought she was 
dying, and so they called up her father 
and mother, and the others, that they 
might see her die. She did not, how- 
ever, die then, hut unexpectedly revived 
again. As the watchers were standing 
around her, she said to one of them, 
" It is not necessary for me (meaning 
herself) to stay to-day. " " Why ?" said 
the watcher ; " Do you think you shall 
go to heaven ?" " Oh, I hope I shall," 
said she ; " I had as lief die as not;" 
and then seeing all the family, who had 
just been called up to see her die, stand- 
ing around her, she added, " I say — I 



46 HISTORY OP 

say, I want to have all my folks hear 
me say, I had as lief die as not" 

One of them asked her if she prayed. 
" O yes" was her reply. But, " why 
do you pray?" they inquired. ''Be- 
cause" said she, " because it makes me 
so happy" Yes, dear children, that 
was why she loved to pray — it made 
her happy. Prayer can change death's 
agonies to the joys of heaven. 

Immediately after this, Sarah said, 

" Mr. prayed for me, and I wish 

he would pray with me again." It so 

happened, that Mr. was there that 

night, and Sarah's mother therefore 
requested him to make a short prayer. 
He did so. After prayer, he asked Sa- 
rah if he had said enough. " Not 
quite," said she. About the same time, 
she said again, that she was willing to 
die. Some one asked her again, if she 
thought she should go to heaven. " I 
think I shall," was her reply. The next 



LITTLE SARAH. 47 

morning (Saturday) she said many oth- 
er things like these, but the family do 
not remember how she expressed her- 
self. 

From this time to her death, she be- 
came weaker and weaker, and seldom 
spoke, except to answer questions. 
The day before she died, which was 
the Sabbath, she spoke only two or 
three times, though she seemed to have 
her senses. When any thing was 
given her to take, it was with great 
difficulty that she could swallow it. 
Still, she never refused to take any 
thing, but on the contrary, whenever 
requested to take any thing, she always 
seemed to make an effort to obey. 
This, indeed, she did during all her 
sickness. 

Her cousin, who was with her and 
took care of her during a great part of 
her sickness, and who told me nearly 
all of what I have been telling yau 



48 HISTORY OF 

about her, writes thus — " During her 
sickness I never heard her murmur or 
complain. When asked how she did, 
she almost invariably replied, ' a little 
better ;-' or, ' not very well.' At length, 
after enduring almost every pain, and 
suffering much distress* on Monday 
evening, her spirit took its flight to the 
eternal world— I trust, to a world 
where sin and suffering are known no 



more." 



" Happy soul, thy days an snded, 
All thy mourning days below : 
Go ! by angel guards attended* 
To the arms of Jesus, go. 

Waiting to receive thy spirit, 
Lo ! the Saviour stands above j 

Shows the purchase of his merit ; 
Reaches out a crown of love." 

And now, dear children, I have fin- 
ished all I have to tell you of little Sa- 
rah. She is dead and gone. Her body 
is laid in the cold grave, and is moul- 



LITTLE SARAH. 49 

dering away to dust. She will neve* 
come back again to this world, to see 
her father or mother, or brothers or 
cousins, or uncles or aunts ; or her 
Sabbath school teachers, or those little 
children that used to go to the Sab- 
bath school, and learn to sing little ver- 
ses and hymns with her. No; she 
never will come back to them. And 
so too, she never will come back to see 
me, her dear minister, that she loved so 
much. She is gone to that world from 
which nobody ever comes back. So 
that we must all go to her. Yes, her 
minister that she loved so much ; and 
those little children, that went to the 
Sabbath school with her, and were at 
her funeral and saw her, when she lay 
in the coffin cold and dead ; and her 
Sabbath school teachers ; and all her 
friends — uncle, aunt, cousin, brother, 
father, mother — all must go to her. 

And it will not be a great while, before 
5 



50 HISTORY OF 

we shall go. Oh, that we might all be 
able on our dying bed, to say as Sarah 
said, " I had as lief die as not ; I say — 
I say, I want all my folks to hear me 
say, I had as lief die as not!" Oh! 
that scholars, teachers, minister, uncle, 
aunt, cousin, brother, father, mother- 
all might die as Sarah died, and go up 
with her to that brighter world, where 
her Saviour lives and smiles, and all is 
peace, and sin and sorrow never come. 

" There shall we bathe the weary soul 

In seas of heavenly rest ; 
And not a wave of trouble roll 

Across the peaceful breast." 

But ah ! if we do not die as Sarah 
died — and you, dear children, who nev- 
er knew little Sarah, if you do not die 
as she died, what then will become of 
us ? And what too, will become of 
you ? Think of this. Think of it — 
What ivill become of you — ivhere will 



LITTLE SARAH. 51 

you go — what can you do, when you 
come to die, if you do not live as Sarah 
lived, nor love the Saviour that Sarah 
loved, and cannot die as Sarah died f 

In conclusion, I bid you all, dear 
children, an affectionate farewell. Re- 
member all I have said. Think, espe- 
cially, that you, as well as little Sarah, 
may become a Christian, even now in 
your very childhood. And may the 
great God our Saviour, grant that you 
may all die in peace and sleep in Je- 
sus ; and, in the morning of the resur- 
rection, come up out of your graves 
along with little Sarah, to dwell forev- 
er with youx Saviour. 

And, Sabbath school teachers, hold 
on your way. Be of good courage. 
Lift up the hands that hang down. 
Pray without ceasing. Ye shall reap 
if ye faint not. Oh, those gems — those 
infant, yet immortal gems, that will 



52 HISTORY OF LITTLE SARAH. 

forever sparkle in your crown of rejoic- 
ing, if ye do your duty. 

And, afflicted parents, from out of 
her narrow home, your Sarah speaks to 
you. She speaks to you in warning. 
" Be ye also ready, for at such an hour 
as ye think not, the Son of man com- 
eth." You cannot surely forget it. So 
too she speaks in consolation. For 
though her lips are closed in death, and 
her body is mouldering back to dust, 
still methinks I hear her say, " Weep 
not for me — Pm not afraid to die, Pm 
not afraid to die. I had as lief die as 
not." I remain, as ever, 

Your sincere friend, 



THE END, 



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